Gardner's World needs a hard prune!

I have just watched the lastest GW and it it was embarrassing. I know this programme has been discussed on this forum before but I just can't stand it any more.The producers and production team need to get a hold of the canker that is eating its way through what was once a fragrant rose in the the TV schedules. Toby Buckland is just not a lead presenter, he is boring, lacks the motivational ability to take people along and lacks natral humour. ( I just hope that there is a young charasmatic horticultural gradutate out there somewhere saying "this is rubbish I can do better than that", and that they make it their goal to get Toby's job!) To make matters worse, all of this is delivered from what looks like a newly constructed B&Q yard! The paint on the doors of the shed must have be thrown in for free.Tonight we were subjected to the most awful tosh about garden gnomes and how to build an Auricular display shelf out of an old draw. Oh God I don't belive I am saying this but give me give me Tommy "fat bloke with braces" anytime! If this is to be the future for GW I don't hold out much hope for a growth in gardners amoung the next generation. I predict that GW will get moved to another smaller Beeb channel, or they will sell the franchise to someone else. I just hope that the show gets some new blood, and bone, that encourages new growth.

What I can't believe is how much money they've piled into it all. The huge raised beds for vegetables (2 weeks ago). How much money would it have cost to have filled those and they would have easily been 3ft high and a good 6ft wide. A lovely double shed which would have cost alot and then they go to a reclamation yard and get dodgy windows (with panes missing) and a front door. Rotavating the whole site which is as big as a football pitch and the soil all looks as though it's been filled with compost and manure.

I like Carol Klein and Joe Swift, I know that they know their stuff. I'm sorry that we're not seeing more of them. But they're being given daft projects by the bbc so we're not seeing them at they're best. I don't quite understand where Alys (the other gardener) is coming from. I don't think we've seen enough of her showing her gardening knowledge. Once again, she's being given stupid projects by the beeb.

On a different note - I don't think we're getting enough gardening on BBC 2 this year and I'm finding a bit more on BBC 4 instead but you have to remember that channel. Another gardener, I think is great is Christine Walkden she's hilarious but is very knowledgable I really want to see her back on our screens.

I think the beeb are just following the current trend at the moment of vegetables and not really doing a good mix of both flowers and veg.

Replies

Kerrie John-The garden design Co April 17, 2009 at 10:20pm

I don't watch GW, but have to say Kevin

"Tonight we were subjected to the most awful tosh about garden gnomes and how to build an Auricular display shelf out of an old draw"

Wish I had! Laughed out loud to your comment. Anyone got some old draws and planning an Auricular display?
Kerrie John-The garden design Co April 17, 2009 at 10:35pm

Sure old Tom has drawers full of drawers but not sure if he is planning an Auricular display!!!!
Kerrie John-The garden design Co April 17, 2009 at 10:41pm

maybe. or he could sell them on ebay.
Bigyin April 18, 2009 at 11:42am

More like Blue Peter !!. Alys was the star with her cardboard reflector (although she used stick adhesive instead of sticky backed plastic). I think she's a better candidate for the lead than Toby. Carol remains Carol and I was heartened to learn from Joe that all I need to design my garden was a photo and some tracing paper (Simples !!).
The best bit was the little girl who was really cute and finished off the Blue Peter feel.
The Perfumed Garden April 18, 2009 at 2:38pm

I echo all of the above - truly dull, dull, dull. I think even Simon was finding it simplistic beyond belief. Carol Klein is a plantswoman with a wealth of knowledge and expertise and she has been dumbed down painfully. If the BBC are trying to appeal to a new school of gardeners, I think they are more likely to put them off.
Bigyin April 18, 2009 at 3:25pm

And why does Carol's section have to be reduced to a "Britain's Got Talent" playoff ? I'm surprised we weren't asked to phone in. And now we have the unbearable suspense of having to wait another week before we find out which of the boring candidates she'll pick. They (and I) would have been better served by her doing a "Propagation, Pruning & Planting 101" stretching over the series. Perhaps that's how it will pan out. I hope the Beeb are taking note off all this feedback.
Lisa Valentine April 19, 2009 at 5:24pm

What I can't believe is how much money they've piled into it all. The huge raised beds for vegetables (2 weeks ago). How much money would it have cost to have filled those and they would have easily been 3ft high and a good 6ft wide. A lovely double shed which would have cost alot and then they go to a reclamation yard and get dodgy windows (with panes missing) and a front door. Rotavating the whole site which is as big as a football pitch and the soil all looks as though it's been filled with compost and manure.

I like Carol Klein and Joe Swift, I know that they know their stuff. I'm sorry that we're not seeing more of them. But they're being given daft projects by the bbc so we're not seeing them at they're best. I don't quite understand where Alys (the other gardener) is coming from. I don't think we've seen enough of her showing her gardening knowledge. Once again, she's being given stupid projects by the beeb.

On a different note - I don't think we're getting enough gardening on BBC 2 this year and I'm finding a bit more on BBC 4 instead but you have to remember that channel. Another gardener, I think is great is Christine Walkden she's hilarious but is very knowledgable I really want to see her back on our screens.

I think the beeb are just following the current trend at the moment of vegetables and not really doing a good mix of both flowers and veg.
chris nangle April 20, 2009 at 4:05pm

gw world is a poor show now toby is in the seat as for the old drawer christ on a bike it was like an old changing rooms thing ,poor stuff indeed
Bigyin April 24, 2009 at 10:35pm

So tonight, Toby appears from stage right through the round window !! But at last he's redeemed himself by explaining to the millions of us who have been waiting impatiently for a demonstration of how to convert the one meter lenth of concrete sewage pipe we all have into the most unatural looking pond I've ever seen, replete with the half ton of perfectly dressed slate we were wondering what to do with. The double bonus followed in the shape of "Sowing a football pitch with hardy annual seeds with the aid of a cement mixer". Has this bloke completely lost the plot ? Did I note shades of embarrasment in the shed from Joe and Alys ? Hell's teeth !!
OK, I'll fess up that I didn't know that was the way to plant asparagus and Carol's section on dividing day lillies gave me time to make a cuppa. Thankfully, the evening was saved by the first episode of the new Reggie Perrin. Anybody wanna buy an analogue telly ? (could become collectable)?
Kevin Munt April 25, 2009 at 6:30pm

Until I read this from Bigyin I was not going to give GW any more of my valuable time but he did make me laugh. I missed the pond build but saw it at the end and thought that it had been made out of the tyre off of a giant earth moving truck! Could that plot of theirs be any more uninspirational ? I am talking about the location but understand if you though I meant the script!

Who do they think they are in the shed on the old armchairs, Clarkson and co? I hear it now 'Top Gear' is a massive success so let's get Toby and co to do a news round up in the B&Q shed. Great except that not one of them has the personality of James May let alone Clarkson or Hammond! However someone did write in and complain about the colour of the shed doors so I do feel that my moan was justified!

It cannot go on like this...can it?